Attorney fires back on K-9 audit questions
turned over to the controller (from the sheriff’s office) is only partial information,” commissioners’ Chairwoman Republican Michelle Kichline said Monday. “I welcome a full review of all the financial documents related to this issue.” Asked if the report from Reif’s office made her concerned, Kichline answered, “Sure.”
“Anytime there is an investigation of anybody in the county, if there are questions that affect the running of the government we certainly support getting all the answers and making sure all the funds were appropriately used,” Kichline said. “If there is something that warrants an investigation, we certainly will be cooperative.”
“There were a lot of unanswered questions, because she (Reif) had asked for more documents than she received,” said Republican Commissioner Terence Farrell of the report. He said officials were taking a “twopronged approach” to the matter, referring the information to Hogan but also opening a separate county review of matters Reif’s inquiry raised in what he called “a human relations perspective.” Farrell declined to comment on what those matters might entail.
“We will await the outcome of these investigations, to be clear as to what can be substantiated or what,” he said.
Vice Chairwoman Kathi Cozzone, a Democrat, said that what Reif did was within the authority of the county code.
“I agree with the controller that (her audit) certainly raises more questions than it answers,” Cozzone said in an interview. “I am interested in getting some answers.”
Reif and her staff began looking into issues surrounding the K-9 Unit funds that she said were raised, in part, though solicitations on the county’s website, www.chesco.org, in June. When Welsh declined to voluntarily submit to an audit of the funds, citing an alleged lack of authority of the controller to review what she considered private funds, Reif issued a subpoena for nine years of financial records of the K-9 Unit. After being provided with three years worth of records, Reif and her staff compiled a 10-page summary of their findings of the partial audit, which was first shared with Kichline, county Solicitor Thomas Whiteman, and thencounty Chef Operating Officer Mark Rupsis.
Welsh is a longtime Republican official; Reif is a Democrat who took office in January after winning election last November.
The report was later sent to Farrell and Cozzone, and then turned over to Hogan for his review the week of Sept. 3.
On Sept. 10, Hogan sent letters to the state Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Attorney in Philadephia asking those offices to take up a review of the issues the report raised. They “involve allegations of misuse and fraud regarding funds collected by the Sheriff’s Office for their K-9 Unit, but used for other personal and political expenses,” he said. Representatives of those offices have declined to comment on the matter.
In addition to raising questions about certain aspects of the K-9 Unit’s spending, the controller’s report also noted that there did not appear to be any formal or informal structure for how the funds were dispersed; that the Chester County Sheriff K-9 fund had not registered as a charitable organization as required by the state; had not applied for taxexempt status although claiming it did not have to pay tax on certain transactions; and had about $40,000 in undocumented credit card purchases.
Muth, an attorney with the West Chester firm of Lamb McErlane, took issue with expenses that were identified as questionable in the report and that were later highlighted in a story published by the Daily Local News. After initially saying he would not comment on any specific allegations before the completion of an independent audit by an unidentified certified public accountant hired by the sheriff, he changed course and offered a lengthy response, citing what he called “personal attacks.”
Those expenses paid for by the K-9 Unit, according to the records, included $4,718 for a stay at the Hilton Baltimore in June and July 2015, during an annual conference of the National Sheriff’s Association when Welsh was sworn in as the body’s Sergeantat-Arms; at least $5,290 for dozens of miscellaneous lunches and dinners over a three-year period paid for with a personal credit card; $4,200 for what the report referred to as a custom-made golf cart; $2,500 for tires and front and back winches on a privately owned pickup truck; and $579 for a one-night stay at the Quality Hotel in Exton in September 2017.